The lung opened its mouth. I held it away from me in case it was trying to bite me. It burped. A droplet of blood slithered down the corner of its mouth. A reflex told me to apologize for the lung, to call it a monster out loud, to be disgusted. But such declarations would have been insincere. I felt sorry for Almendra, but the lung acted without malice. It was hungry. It didn’t know not to attack her. The lung unfurled its arm-tail, stretched it, and wrapped it against its body, hugging itself. Jackie struggled with the words she wanted to say, a series of false starts and stammers. “Don’t
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